Permanent fix to Liberty Street could take years but Mayor Curry's team wants quicker action.
QuoteCity engineers pitched a two-year, $22.4 million plan last week to replace aging downtown bridges connected to the collapsed Liberty Street, but Mayor Lenny Curry's administration wants a more aggressive idea to re-open a nearby street that's disrupted traffic for months.
A parking lot and section of Coastline Drive, which runs between the St. Johns River and the downtown Hyatt hotel, were closed after Liberty Street fell into the river on Feb. 1. The city added new restrictions in April to another part of Coastline Drive, limiting it to one-way traffic and a 3-ton weight limit.
The city's public works department submitted a plan to Curry's administration last week to replace the bridges supporting Liberty Street and Coastline Drive. After reviewing the plan, Curry's team wants a temporary fix to re-open Coastline Drive much sooner.
"We can't wait two years," said Sam Mousa, Curry's chief administrative officer. "It's unacceptable."
Mousa said re-opening Coastline Drive is a top priority for Curry. Earlier this week, Mousa asked the city's public works director to set up a meeting with the Florida Department of Transportation to "brainstorm" a temporary repair. He said a meeting hasn't been scheduled.
The long-term plan would first replace the bridge underneath the intersection of Coastline Drive and Newnan Street, which is restricted to one-way traffic and "critical to many of the downtown interests," according to a memo Mousa received last week from the public works department. There's no detailed timeline for that project, but it could begin as early as October.
City engineers ruled out two solutions to repair the existing bridge below the intersection because it'd require a weight limit or obtaining permits that could delay the project. The weight limit interferes with the Hyatt's operations, according to the public works memo.
Under the public works plan, the city would also begin designing the replacements to the bridges underneath Coastline Drive and Liberty Street in October and could begin construction the following year.
The total project is eligible for as much as $7.5 million in federal funding.
Mousa said he hopes to include funding to design the long-term repairs in next year's budget. However, he said he believes the project could take longer than two years. He also said the plan — and total cost — is not final and still needs to be reviewed.
Sam get in there and kick these engineers in the balls, if they have any left from Brown's administration and get stuff done! Fixing Brown's problems left behind, one at a time....